Procedural snags may mar distribution of Rs 200 billion among needy

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government is set to distribute Rs 200 billion among the deserving population across the country through three different programmes but procedural anomalies coupled with bureaucratic hitches related to the registration of those in need of financial assistance have created confusion and panic among the deserving population.
Presently, the federal and provincial governments have respectively launched three major programmes; Ehsaas Emergency Programme, Ehsaas Imdad Package Punjab and Insaf Imdad Programme Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to provide financial aid to needy in the backdrop of the spread of coronavirus in the country.
The Ehsaas Emergency Programme is directly executed by the federal government under the supervision of Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Dr Sania Nishtar. It envisages providing financial assistance to 120,000,00 families from across Pakistan under the 1.2 trillion Economic Relief Package approved by the federal cabinet earlier on Tuesday with Prime Minister Imran Khan in chair.
Under Ehsaas Emergency Programme, each family would be provided at once Rs 12,000 on the basis of four-monthly assistance of Rs 3000 per month. Rs 150 billion to Rs 200 billion have been allocated to provide cash grants to the downtrodden segments of the society.
The Ehsaas Imdad Package Punjab is executed by Punjab government under the supervision of Chief Minister Punjab Usman Buzdar. This programme aims to provide Rs 4000 each to 2.5 million poor families in Punjab.
The Insaf Imdad Programme Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is executed by the KP government under the supervision of CM KP Mahmood Khan. This package aims to provide Rs 2,000 to each poor family. The exact number of families to be provided assistance under this programme would be determined after a detailed survey, official sources told Business Recorder.
Majority of the applicants who applied for the cash assistance at a designated number under Ehsaas Emergency Programme has been informed through automated messages to contact their district administrations concerned, sources told Business Recorder.
"The applicants in big numbers have received text messages to contact the district administrations concerned for their registration. But no guidelines have been provided; like where to go and who to contact. As a result, the applicants, who are mostly poor and illiterate, have no idea where to go," officials privy to the matter told Business Recorder.
In Rawalpindi, scores of the poor families in search of assistance under the Ehsaas Emergency Programme, visited the office of Deputy Commissioner Rawalpindi on Friday to get their names and Computerised National Identity Cards (CNIC) numbers registered, only to be informed that the DC Office has not started the registration drive yet and the applicants would be registered in their respective localities through the related union councils (UCs) offices headed by the secretaries.
"A clear mechanism needs to be avoided and guidelines be issued instead of relying on social media advertisements and vague text messages which are beyond the access of most of the illiterate population," said a senior official.
The sources said the PM's Special Assistant on Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Sania Nishtar is actively making efforts to facilitate the deserving public and has, in several instances, personally intervened to make sure that the deserving applicants are registered in maximum number.
"However, the bureaucratic hurdles involving the apathetic attitude of the district administrations make a real problem in facilitating the public. Such issues need to be addressed if the government is serious in reaching to maximum number of people for financial help," Business Recorder was told.
It merits mentioning here that the federal government has directed the district administrations throughout the country to launch data surveys to determine the exact number of those who need financial assistance under the Economic Relief Package in the backdrop of spread of coronavirus across the country.